Executive Summary

On the edge of adulthood: Young people's school and out-of-school experiences at 16 (Wylie & Hipkins, 2008) is the major report from the age-16 phase of the longitudinal Competent Children, Competent Learners study. This technical report provides in-depth coverage of the variables used, the statistical methodology, and detailed results of the models fitted.

Competent Children, Competent Learners charts the development of students' cognitive competencies (literacy, numeracy and logical problem solving), as well as their attitudinal competencies (social and communication skills). It also investigates the students' home and education experiences to find out which of these experiences may account for differences in their patterns of development and performance over time.

Altogether, 447 young people took part in the age-16 phase of the project which specifically explores students' home, school, and out-of-school life; their engagement in school, and how that relates to their out-of-school life; and their achievement, both in terms of the Competent Children, Competent Learners competency measures and, where available, their NCEA results.

You can download individual chapters of the report as PDF files or MS Word files below: